Dutch Researchers Rank Higher than the Top 10 Most Research-Intensive Nations In Key Research Performance Areas

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, has announced the outcomes of a comparative study of Dutch researchers’ international performance. The study, based on Scopus data and using Elsevier’s SciVal research performance measurement tools, showed that in a comparison that includes the top 10 R&D spending nations in the world, the Netherlands ranks No. 1 in publication impact per article and number 1 by level of international collaboration.

Furthermore, within this group the Netherlands ranks number 1 in the world in citations generated per unit of R&D spending and number 2 in publications generated per unit of R&D spending. The figures were presented at the Impact of Science Conference held in Amsterdam.

Nick Fowler, Elsevier’s Managing Director of A&G Institutional Markets, said: “Two factors contribute to the success of the Netherlands: international collaboration and a geographically mobile research base. 48.7% of articles written by a Netherlands-based researcher are written in collaboration with a researcher outside the Netherlands. This is a higher proportion than any of the top 10 R&D-spending nations in the world. International collaboration is generally acknowledged as a positive force driving research impact and prestige. The second factor, the mobile research base, relates to what we call ‘brain circulation’, or cross-border mobility of researchers. The Netherlands has a history of allowing people to move in and out, also in the science world. For example no less than 74% of authors affiliated with Dutch institutions have also published at an institution in another country at some point in their careers. That hugely benefits Dutch research.”